WuXi Biologics and its partner Pall Corp., a provider of advanced filtration, separation and purification technologies, established a joint lab to develop full continuous processing for the manufacture of monoclonal antibodies (mAb). The three-year project started with the continuous operation of individual processes and will gradually be expanded to downstream processing development and production. The joint lab will serve WuXi Biologics' customers and aims to significantly reduce mAb drugs' manufacturing costs.

The joint lab, constructed with Pall’s Cadence Continuous Bioprocess System and integrated with its single-use technology platform, provides process flexibility, facilitates switches between processes and helps to avoid cross-contamination. The platform helps pharma companies reduce the manufacturing space required at a facility and costs.

WuXi Biologics has developed high-yielding cell lines and lab-scale continuous processes, significantly increasing the expression of some mAbs to up to equivalent of 40-50 g/L in the traditional fed-batch process, which is approximately 10 times more productive than the typical fed-batch process. Moving forward, the teams will work to improve large-scale purification equipment and technology that often becomes a bottleneck in continuous processing. With this joint lab, WuXi plans to expand the continuous process scale to 500 L and reduce mAb manufacturing cost to $30-50/g, and then scale up to 1000 L and further reduce costs to less than $15/g.

"Pall offers complete process development, as well as equipment and technical support needed for continuous bio-manufacturing solutions that reduce costs for biopharmaceutical process development and production, and that enhance core competencies for biopharmaceutical companies. We're excited about this new partnership with WuXi Biologics, they have a strong global influence which will help accelerate the development and innovation of advanced bioprocesses," said Jennifer Honeycutt, president of Pall Corp.

"WuXi Biologics is committed to further accelerating our expansion in capabilities and capacities, strengthening our leadership position as the most comprehensive and integrated enabling platform, empowering anyone and any company to discover, develop and manufacture biologics," said Dr. Chris Chen, chief executive officer of WuXi Biologics. "The partnership with Pall helps us utilize the global innovation and leading technology to effectively resolve bottlenecks of continuous processing, to significantly lower the cost of biologics and benefits patients worldwide."